Thanksgiving is sandwiched between the two funnest holidays: Halloween and Christmas. Many people love Thanksgiving for the abundance of food and the consumption of the abundant food. Others love the holiday for the football games (though the games are usually terrible every year). Some use the holiday to educate others about how American Indians were truly treated when the Europeans came over. Of course, Thanksgiving and Christmas are the same essential holidays in modern society. The only difference is, Christmas is much more expensive to celebrate than Thanksgiving.The two holidays spawn different types of episodes though. Thanksgiving episodes ALWAYS involve families for good or ill. And by always, I mean most of the time. Buffy, The Vampire Slayer's Thanksgiving episode is about thanksgiving dinner with the absence of family (blood relatives). I digress.
The first episode of Thanksgiving month in The Foot comes from Everwood. Everwood ran for four years on TheWB before The CW killed it in favor of a 47th season of 7th Heaven. Everwood took place in a small town with a tight-knit community. At the center of Everwood are the Browns. Andy Brown re-located his two children to Everwood after the sudden death of his wife. While the show occassionally wandered into cheesy territories, Everwood was consistently well-written over four years and Greg Berlanti (the creator) created some memorable and lovable characters.
Everwood's first Thanksgiving episode, titled "A Thanksgiving Tale," focuses on the Browns and the Abbotts as most episodes do. Delia, Andy's young daughter, loves Thanksgiving and she's worried that Thanksgiving will be different because her mother died. Andy only worsens Delia's fear when he calls the local diner to order Thanksgiving dinner; however, Ephram (the angsty teenager) realizes the importance of the Thanksgiving tradition to Delia and decides to keep the tradition alive by himself. Meanwhile, Dr. Abbott (the curmudgeon doctor of Everwood) worries about his memory in the event that something tragic happens to him (because his physician asks Abbott to return for an additional MRI to take a look at a spot). Also, the medical case of the week belongs to a recluse who lost his wife to his brother (in other words his ex wife and brother are now married) and the recluse's kidney is the only way his brother's life will be saved. AND Ephram enjoys brief romantic success with Amy before he suffers a crushing defeat.
The Delia story is the most heartfelt of the episode. The desire for Thanksgiving to remain as it was when her mother was alive only exists to mask the pain and sadness the little girl continues to experience because her mother is no longer there. Simply, it is about the first holiday without a parent and the way to cope with that. Ephram morphs into Martha Stewart as he basically nails the entire meal by himself but Delia loses her temper and lashes out because Thanksgiving isn't the same. Andy gets angry but Nina (the helpful next door neighbor) wants to talk to Delia. Nina helps Delia cope with the sadness about her mother. Nina tells Delia that she can be sad but she can be happy as well. After all, her mother would want her daughter to be happy. Delia hugs Nina and cries into Nina's shoulder. The next day, Ephram and Delia create a new tradition which is, "what was the best thing that happened to you this year?" Delia says it is when she discovered that God actually exists while Andy tells Ephram that getting to know his son was the best thing that happened to him.
Dr. Abbott, meanwhile, transforms into George Bailey after learning the news of a possible growth. He invites the entire town to Thanksgiving dinner and behaves in charitable fashion. Dr. Abbott soon becomes annoyed with his own behavior and the crowd of people inside of his house. He retreats into the backyard where his mother sits. The duo have had a rocky relationship, especially because she re-married only two months after Dr. Abbott sr died. Mother and son still love one another though. Edna tells Harold that she loved how he always knew the exact person he was. Dr. Abbott thinks he is an unloved man and won't be missed when he dies, and then Edna steals a sentiment from a Lawrence Durrell novel (unintentional most likely considering English professors don't even know who Durrell is (and Durrell was mentored by T.S. Eliot and published the fantastic Alexandria Quartet)) by explaining that each person only gets a certain amount of love to give to others and Harold loves his family more than any person she's ever known. Dr. Abbott then receives a call from the doctor telling him that he's fine. Abbott quickly kicks each person out of his house so that he can enjoy his thanksgiving with his family.
Everwood wore its themes on its sleeves. The case-of-the-week with the recluse who went crazy after losing his wife parallels Andy after he lost his wife. Andy relates to the recluse, explaining that people thought he went insane by moving his kids to Everwood. Andy thinks he went crazy for a short time because he had no idea how to continue living without his wife. The recluse asks Andy what changed him into the sane man. Andy responds that he needed to feed his children. The recluse decides to part ways with his kidney that will save his brother's life because his brother simply needs it and the recluse needs to move on and forgive his brother for his own sanity.
"A Thanksgiving Tale" is a simple, heartfelt episode about the importance of love, family, togetherness and community.
Some other thoughts:
-The second kiss between Amy and Ephram happens in this episode. Of course, Ephram experiences the cold, harsh world of rejection afterwards. The two end the series as a healthy, happy couple though.
-This episode is a battle between awesome beards. Treat Williams probably loses the beard fight to the actor who portrayed the recluse.
-Vanessa Taylor wrote the episode. David Petrarca directed.
SCREENPLAY OF THE DAY
John From Cincinnati--"Pilot"--Written By David Milch and Kem Nunn
THE YOUTUBE CLIP OF THE WEEK
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